Another far right-wing character bites the dust. Seems that Colorado Springs preacher-man Ted Haggard, mullah of the New Life Church, commander of the “Spiritual NORAD”, weekly advisor to George Bush II, and PT Barnum of the New Testament, has been leading a double life. Seems he has a private taste for what he publically condemns. Holy revelations, Batman.
This is a tragic comedy. There is some smug satisfaction in seeing a prominent theocrat get tangled in a web of his own construction. A most humiliating experience it must be, to be caught indulging in the most forbidden pleasures of the flesh. But the fall of Ted Haggard is only the tragic part.
The comedy part relates to the mechanics of operating theocracy. Theocracy is governance by revelation. Self-appointed persons claiming to have received special instructions by, or have special sensitivity to, a supernatural being are the governors of a theocracy. There are no checks and balances. There can be only unblinking obedience. This event forces us to pause and think about the pragmatics of operating a theocratic state. How divine is the leaders inspiration? How can you discern the direction from God vs the directions from people? This mode of governance is fundamentally flawed because people are forced to interpret nuance and testamonials as opposed to objective, measurable, reality.
Ted Haggard is (was) a prominent leader of a nascent conservative theocratic movement in America. See for yourself. Look it up.
Soon we’ll see the obligatory sobbing plea for forgiveness and the posturing. In 5 years he’ll be back preaching from Arkansas or Indiana on the DayStar network. His fall from grace will be the basis of a book and a CD set. Maybe this is part of the cycle that the Hindu’s talk about.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Pretty crazy what happened to Haggard, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what the rest of the bible-thumpers are doing when no one’s around.
I do like your sign, psi-star-psi. It would be interesting to hear how you get the characters.
I live in Colorado and I can say that along with the sharp contrasts in elevation we have sharp contrasts in politics. Colorado Springs, a city nestled in an absolutely gorgeous location, has become the Mecca (a delightful simile) for Reconstructionist Christian groups. Hard to say exactly why. The area has been very politically conservative due in part to the presence of the Air Force Academy, a developing semiconductor industry, and lots of military retiree’s. I could speculate further, but it would only be a tedious indulgence.
By contrast, two hours drive to the norrth is Boulder, CO. Boulder is a university town (CU) and would naturally have a concentration of hipsters anyway. But Boulder was hit hard by the Hippy movement in the 1960’s and in some ways is still ringing from that hit. Whereas once you saw flower power and hard working granola people trying to make it in the food co-op or macrame trade, today you see grey haired hipsters driving their BMWs to their 1600 sq ft $700,000 single floor ranch home. Boulder, at least at one time, had its own policy on nuclear weapons- they’re forbidden within city limits. Naturally, Boulder is the butt of many jokes within conservatives in Colorado- The Peoples Republic of Boulder, etc. But I like the very idea of Boulder. A place where alternative ______ (fill in the blank) anything is accepted. Despite the dry rot of the cursed yuppyism, Boulder continues to thrive as a counterpoint to the conservative swine to the south.
Thank ya…I found the Ψ in Arial once and have been copy-pasting ever since. You can also get to it with Symbol font and capital Y.
Colorado Springs was mentioned in “Jesus Camp” if I remember correctly, for exactly the reason you listed above. Boulder sounds nice, despite the yuppies.